Tobacco suit: Imperial had no credibility when it denied cancer link, ex-spokesman says

MONTREAL — Despite mounting evidence in the 1960s that smoking tobacco was killing more than 30,000 people in Canada every year, Canada's largest tobacco company made no effort to inform the public about the dangers of its products, a former Imperial Tobacco executive testified Tuesday in the $27-billion class-action lawsuit against the nation's three largest tobacco companies.

Michel Descoteaux, who for years served as Imperial's official spokesman, said the company's policy was to claim that there was no scientific evidence linking smoking to disease.

He said that because of this policy the company had "no credibility" with the general public.

"The reputation of the company was very bad," he said. "Public opinion was that cigarettes were causing all kinds of diseases."

He added that the company "had no credibility even among smokers."

He said, however, that he believed that "everything Imperial Tobacco communicated to the public was true."

When plaintiff lawyer Bruce Johnston asked him if smoking's lethal results were ever discussed by the company, Descoteaux replied: "I have no recollection of a specific moment when the question of does the product kill or not kill (came up)."

Referring to the statistical evidence of the dangers of smoking, he said that "you could drive a truck through the whole thing anyway."

Descoteaux said he began working for Imperial Tobacco in 1963 and for the last at least 20 years was its only spokesman. He retired in 2002. He said outside the courtroom that after his retirement he stopped smoking.

He said that during the 1960s and 1970s he was aware of no tobacco company in the world that admitted that smoking caused diseases such as cancer and emphysema.

The class action revolves around when the tobacco companies knew or should have known about the potential dangers of their products and what they did about it.

Descoteaux said his personal beliefs evolved with the policy of the company, and added that if his opinions had been opposed to the company's position, he would not have lasted long at Imperial Tobacco.

He said the company's public statements evolved over the years from total denial of a direct relationship between smoking and cancer to admitting that some people contracted some diseases because of smoking. He was unable to pinpoint a date when the company admitted that smoking caused cancer and other diseases.

When Johnston asked him why he didn't make it his job to find out the truth about smoking and disease, he said: "That's a good question."

He added, however, "I got my information from people who were serious and honest."

Descoteaux is a thin man of medium height with a snow white beard. Throughout his testimony, he often joked with Johnston and his answers frequently meandered and avoided questions.

At one point he claimed that he had very little to do with setting Imperial policy and that these policies were set according to the advice of scientists. Yet in a memo he wrote in 1981, he recommended that the company not follow advice from Imperial's major stockholder, British American Tobacco, that employees follow doctors' advice not to smoke while pregnant.

He wrote in the memo employees should be told that "in the absence of definitive answers to this question, many doctors advice (sic) their pregnant patients to modify their smoking habits during pregnancy as a sensible part of prenatal behaviour." He added that advising employees to follow the advice of their doctors "could open the door to claims for warnings on cigarette packages."

Descoteaux testified that he was "amazed that I wrote something as strong as that."

"So are we," Johnston replied.

Descoteaux is the plaintiffs' first witness. He told the court that prior to his testimony he had been briefed for about four days by Imperial Tobacco lawyers.

Rothmans Benson & Hedges and JTI McDonald are also defendants in the case, which could last up to two years.

The case involves two classes of plaintiffs. One represents about 1.8 million smokers who claim damages of $10,000 per plaintiff for their addiction. The second involves 90,000 smokers who have contracted cancer or emphysema. They want $105,000 each.

A confidential memo dated July 11, 1979, from Descoteaux to Jean-Louis Mercier, former president and chairman of Imperial Tobacco, also was entered into the record. It shows Imperial tried to involve employees in campaigns to counter government regulations in Quebec and Ontario that the company believed would harm their sales.

"We have an interest in engaging the enthusiasm of our unionized employees, to support them 'technically' and to 'frame' their actions to assure that their policies and those of the company are the same," the document states.

The document also talked about making sure the company's policies on smoking and health "conform to the policies of the international industry."

wmarsden@montrealgazette.com

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Tobacco suit: Imperial had no credibility when it denied cancer link, ex-spokesman says